William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir
The Lord Tweedsmuir | |
|---|---|
| Baron Tweedsmuir | |
| In office 20 June 1996 – 29 June 2008 | |
| Preceded by | John Norman Stuart Buchan |
| Succeeded by | John William de l'Aigle Buchan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 January 1916 |
| Died | 29 June 2008 (aged 92) |
| Spouse(s) | Nesta Crozier (div. 1946) Barbara Ensor (div. 1960) Sauré Tatchell |
| Parent(s) | Susan Charlotte Grosvenor |
| Alma mater | New College, Oxford Eton College Dragon School |
William James de L'Aigle Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir (10 January 1916 – 29 June 2008), also known as "William Tweedsmuir" was an English peer and author of novels, short stories, memoirs and verse. He was the second son of the writer and Governor General of Canada, John Buchan.[1]
Early life and career
Brought up at Elsfield Manor, outside
Buchan attended
He then moved to New York in 1937, where his father provided him with literary connections. At one point he asked the critic Alexander Woollcott for a job but was told, "When I was a boy you were supposed to go to the bottom of the nearest tree and climb steadily until you got to the top."[1]
At the suggestion of French film director and actor
In 1939[2] Buchan married Nesta Crozier, and in December 1940 the couple had a daughter, Perdita Buchan. He also co-founded The Pilot Press, which published his short (at 10,000 words) but admiring book on Winston Churchill (a stance at odds with that of his father), and later his brief history of the Royal Air Force.[1] He learned of the death of his father in 1940 from a news hoarding.
War service
He enlisted in the
Buchan twice had to
Later life and career
His marriage broke up during the war,[1] and in 1946[2] he divorced his first wife and married Barbara Ensor, with whom he had three sons and three further daughters, including the writer James Buchan and Ursula Buchan, gardening columnist for The Daily Telegraph.[1] That marriage ended in divorce in 1960.[2]
After the war, Buchan worked in
Simultaneously, Buchan pursued his literary career. A short story collection, The Exclusives, was published in 1943. He next published Personal Poems in 1952 and Kumari in 1955, a novel set in Calcutta. Two thrillers, Helen All Alone (1961) and The Blue Pavilion (1969), followed. He also edited the correspondence of John Masefield and the violinist Audrey Napier-Smith, Letters to Reyna, which appeared in 1982. He was best known for his John Buchan: a Memoir, also published in 1982, and his autobiography, Rags of Time, which appeared in 1990.[1]
On the death of his brother, Johnnie, in 1996, William Buchan succeeded to the title, taking his seat in the House of Lords. There he spoke once, on the case for an elected mayor of London.[1]
In 1960, the year his second marriage was dissolved, Buchan married a third time, to Sauré Tatchell, with whom he had a son Alexander Edward Buchan. According to Buchan's obituary in The Daily Telegraph, in addition to the eight children of his three marriages "there was also another daughter." Buchan's eldest son, Toby (born in 1950), succeeded to the peerage.[1]
Reception of his writings
The memoir of his father (1982) was regarded as his best book, but his autobiography, The Rage of Time (1990), had its admirers, according to an obituary in the Liverpool Daily Post.[4]
His book of poems, published in 1952, was praised in the
Kumari, published in 1955, has been described as "a lush, complex novel about the experiences and romances of a young man in 1930s India". One reviewer wrote that the book tells the reader as much about India and British rule there "as a hundred official publications, or, it might be added, a dozen travel books".[3]
Buchan wrote his first thriller, Helen All Alone, deliberately in the vein of his father's novels, but with a woman as the main character, a point which provoked criticism in The Times. The reviewer declared, "Women in a thriller should be decorative, not pivotal." The TLS, in contrast, praised the book's description of atmosphere and scenery.[3]
Works
Each year links to corresponding "[year] in literature" or "[year] in poetry" article:
- 1940: Winston Churchill, a short, admiring biography of Winston Churchill[3]
- 1943: The Exclusives, a short-story collection
- 1946: The Royal Air Force at War, an account of the daily lives of servicemen
- 1952: Personal Poems, evoking life in Wartime India
- 1955: Kumari, a novel set in Calcutta
- 1961: Helen All Alone, thriller set in 1950 in the Balkans, thought to be the first involving a woman British spy as the main character[3]
- Ballets Roses. A young businessman visiting Paris with his beautiful girlfriend becomes caught up in depravity and blackmail.[3]
- Hallé Orchestra[3]
- 1982: John Buchan: a Memoir, about his relationship with his father
- 1990: The Rags of Time, autobiography
Buchan also wrote introductions for literary works – including Don Quixote and the 1994 Oxford Classics edition of his father's thriller Mr Standfast.[3]
Arms
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References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Lord Tweedsmuir", obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 9 July 2008, retrieved 9 December 2008
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hawtree, Christopher, "William Buchan: Writer faced with a mixed inheritance as John Buchan's son", obituary, The Guardian, 8 July 2008, retrieved 8 December 2008
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Lord Tweedsmuir: novelist and son of John Buchan", obituary, The Times, 4 July 2008, retrieved 8 December 2008
- ^ a b "William Buchan", obituary, Liverpool Daily Post, 7 July 2008
- ^ Lovelace, Mary (4 July 2008). "Lord Tweedsmuir: Novelist and son of John Buchan who inherited his father's talent but was disappointed of literary fame". The Independent. UK. Retrieved 15 December 2008.
- ^ "No. 35119". The London Gazette. 28 March 1941. pp. 1813–1814.
- ^ "No. 35460". The London Gazette. 17 February 1942. p. 780.
- ^ "No. 35989". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 April 1942. p. 1858.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1985. p. 1196.
External links
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